Hot and Cold
by museicality
Summary: Written for SMACKDOWN 2011, Team Temptation. Jonathan of Conte and Keladry of Mindelan are two very headstrong people. Unfortunately, somehow they seem to always run hot and cold. Drabble prompts from "Hot n' Cold" by Katy Perry.
1. The Beginning

Title: The Beginning

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 483

Pairing: Jonathan/Keladry

Round/Fight: 1/F

Summary: To Keladry's fury, Jonathan of Conte has changed his mind again. ("You change your mind like a girl changes clothes" Part of the series: Hot 'n Cold; lyrics by Katy Perry.) For Nat—Happy Birthday!

"Excuse me, sir," Keladry of Mindelan knocked on the doorframe of Jonathan's study. Glancing up and seeing her in the open door, the king smiled.

"Lady Sir Keladry," Jon waved her into a chair opposite his desk. "How can I help you?"

Kel settled into the leather-padded chair, fidgeting slightly as she twined her fingers together. "Sir," she couldn't bring herself to be less formal, though he had given her permission, "…I am your vassal."

Jon raised an eyebrow slightly. "Of course, Keladry. Is there something of issue, here?"

"Sir, I am a Knight of the Realm. As such, I allowed, no, encouraged to take a squire, am I not?"

Jon's sigh was heavy. "You're here about the message."

"It isn't fair." Kel wanted to jump to her feet and lean both hands on Jon's desk. She settled for clenching her fists in her lap. "You issue no orders to any other knights regarding their potential choice of squires; such a decision is the knight's, and theirs alone."

"You say this as if you were not already decided upon taking Fianola of Blue Harbor as your squire, Kel, and we both know that isn't the case."

Kel glared at Jon. "I thought you were rethinking the probationary year, only to find this on my desk." She placed the Royal Writ on the desk with a little more force than strictly necessary. "Why can't I take a squire of my choice? Give me one good reason."

Uncomfortable, Jon shifted in his chair before looking her in the eye and stating calmly, "The conservatives are…concerned, that you choosing a female squire would lend the girl an unfair advantage."

Kel held her breath and counted to ten, imagining as she did so the guilty pleasure of raising her voice and giving into her anger. "What kind of advantages? I have no Gift, and I passed my examinations and my Ordeal under my own strength."

Jon studied the wood grain under his fingers carefully. "You might not, but you and Lady Alanna of Pirate's Swoop are close, are you not?"

This was too much. Kel straightened, face pale but set, only the slight quaver in her voice giving way to her fury. "I was under the impression that it was the King's duty to put his loyalty, and his trust, in his knights."

Jon rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Kel, it isn't fair, an—"

"—Change it. You're the King."

"…I can't."

"You won't, you mean." Kel had no idea what possessed her to talk back to her king, and she bit her lip.

Jon shook his head. "I can't. Lady Sir Keladry of Mindelan, you are forbidden from requesting the service of Fianola of Blue Harbor as your personal squire."

He waited, studying Kel in the wake of his words, but all she gave him was her back as she strode from his study.


	2. Expectations

Title: Expectations  
>Rating: PG-13<br>Word Count: 347  
>Pairing: JonathanKeladry  
>RoundFight: 1F  
>Summary: A person isn't always who you wish they would be. ("You PMS like a chick I would know" Part of the series: Hot 'n Cold; lyrics by Katy Perry.)<p>

_I don't normally do this, but I would love to get some feedback about my writing; if you read my work, please review and let me know! Even a simple response is appreciated! Thank you _

Kel didn't realize she had an audience until she dragged her helmet from her head, pushing back the sweaty hair that was plastered to her forehead. Balancing her lance across Peachblossom's withers, she turned.

The low whistle had come from Raoul, who offered her a smile even as he observed her tight, drawn face.

"You took the arm clean off," he commented, gesturing at the quintain she had just galloped past, whose shield arm rested in the dust a good six feet away. "What are you upset about?"

Kel blinked at the quintain. "I didn't mean to do that," she muttered.

"You're skirting the question, Kel. What's up?"

Kel took her time as she dismounted, patting Peachblossom before turning to meet Raoul's kind eyes.

"I've been royally commanded not to approach Lady Squire-to-be Fianola of Blue Harbor with a request to be her knightmaster."

Raoul flinched; the words were cold, especially coming from Jon, and clearly Kel had taken exception to them.

"I take it you talked to Jon about it?" Raoul asked gently, and something in Kel snapped; he could see it in the way that Kel's knuckles turned white and in the flat line of her lips.

"Only long enough to hear more bullshit about how the conservatives' gentle dispositions still object rather unappealingly to the idea of female knights and everything of their ilk."

"You're upset because it isn't fair."

"And he knows it, too; Jonathan of Conte admitted as much to my face, yet he refuses to 'alienate the conservative court' over such an issue."

Kel bit her lip against the frustrated tears rising in her eyes. "He said he was rethinking the probationary year just last month, and now he comes out with this."

Raoul laid a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe I should mention something to him…"

"Don't." Kel shook her head. "He won't change his mind."

Squeezing her shoulder, Raoul nodded. "If that's what you wish…"

Kel nodded, but she couldn't bring herself to say what she really wished; for Jonathan of Conte to finally live up to her expectations.


	3. Over Thinking

Title: Over Thinking

Rating: PG

Word Count:

Pairing: Jonathan/Keladry

Round/Fight: 1F

Summary: Jon over thinks things. ("You over think, always speak cryptically" Part of the series: Hot 'n Cold; lyrics by Katy Perry.)

Gary knocked on the door to Jon's study; when there was no answer, he let himself in. He knew Jon wouldn't mind it, and moreover, Jon knew that scarce little would stop Gareth the Younger of Naxen, much less a simple wooden door whose lock Gary had learned to pick decades ago.

"Yes, Gary, why don't you come in and make yourself comfortable?" Jon offered, but his sarcasm was absentminded.

Gary, noticing what paper Jon was currently moping at, shook his head. "I told you, you should have talked about that to her face; Kel's a very blunt person."

Jon tossed the document onto a pile. "It doesn't matter; Kel was just here. She didn't take it very well in person either."

"Jon, you can't just order Kel not to ask Squire Fianola to consider her as a knightmaster. Raoul said that she's been waiting since the girl first showed up at the Palace for page training."

"Oh, so now Raoul's in on this too?" Jon scowled. "So you all think I'm wrong."

Gary rolled his eyes. "Stop it, Jon. We're not against you. But she's right; there isn't a good reason to prevent her from squiring Fianola and you know it."

Jon's jaw unclenched. "But the conservatives have already made their opinions known, and if I allow it—"

"—The conservatives just want to stir up the Court, Jon. Wyldon's alright with it, especially since it's Kel we're talking about. Get him to say something."

Jon looked Gary in the eye. "You really think I should let her squire Fianola."

Nodding, Gary tapped the parchment that had the Royal Seal on it that Kel had left behind earlier that day. "I think that you're over thinking this too much."

"Half the court will be up in arms about it."

Gary sighed. "So some people will complain because they have nothing better to do. Someone will always find a reason to complain, and if they don't go to you with it, they come find me; hence, this stack of papers I need to talk to you about." He plopped the pile onto Jon's desk. "But you've allowed girls to try for their knighthood; potentially someday there will be equal amounts of male and female pages and it will be silly to insist that no Lady Knights have female squires. You might as well start now."

Tugging the first document towards him, Jon inclined his head. "You have a point, Gary."

"I know I do," Gary replied. "You should think about how you're going to bring this up again to Kel, Jon. She's not happy as it is."

Jon raised an eyebrow before dipping his quill in ink. "I didn't say I was going to allow it, did I?"


	4. Sparring

Jon wasn't the only knight at the practice courts, but as soon as he showed up, the pages on the yard straightened up, eyes flicking back and forth to the king and to their blocking patterns partners. More raps connected with undefended knuckles all of a sudden.

Jon joined the other knights leaning on the fence, watching the pages. Some knights, like Cleon of Kennan, Jon mused as he watched the big redhead, were interested in potential squires because they genuinely needed the help. They would give their students a wealth of practical experience. Others, Jon suspected, like Sir Ansil of Groten, took squires because it was their priviledge as knights of the realm to do so. He made a mental note to add them to his list of knights due out for border patrols in the near future.

"Are you quite done staring, sir?" Keladry of Mindelan interrupted his thoughts, and Jon turned slightly to observe the Lady Knight, whose attention was focused on a specific page.

"Was I staring?" Jon asked, his voice even and his smile ready as Kel turned her head slightly.

"If you're going to reprimand me for watching the fourth year pages, you can save your breath, sir." She didn't add, [i]"or, have the conservatives convinced you not to allow me that, either?"[/i] though she dearly wanted to.

"Perhaps I was only here to observe the pages for myself," Jon mentioned. "There are some promising pages in this year, as I expect you have noticed for yourself."

Kel, unfazed by Jon's attempts to charm her into a better mood, refused to play his game. "I have, sir. But unless you're here to withdraw your Writ against me taking Lady Page Fianola of Blue Harbor as my squire, I'm afraid I cannot be of any help."

Biting his tongue—why must she be the one woman who can simply ignore him?—Jon nodded. "In that case, Lady Knight, I'll not distract you any longer."

"I appreciate it." If she had been anyone else, Jon would have called the small smile playing at the corners of Kel's lips a smirk, but this was Kel, and she wasn't smirking at him.

She couldn't be.

Retrieving his dignity, Jon dusted it off and wandered over to where Kennan was standing in hopes of starting a conversation that he wouldn't feel as though he was losing before he said a single word.


	5. More of the Same

Title: More of the Same  
>Rating: PG-13<br>Word Count: 406  
>Pairing: JonathanKeladry  
>RoundFight: 1/F  
>Summary: Neither of them are willing to budge or to play nice. ("You're hot and you're cold, you're yes and you're no." Part of the series: Hot 'n Cold; lyrics by Katy Perry.)<p>

To Kel's discontent, her run-ins with Jonathan of Conte took on similar patterns; she would run into him while on official business for the King's Own, or he would come across her on the practice courts, and they would make forced small talk. As much as she wanted to, Kel was not about to give the King the pleasure of bringing up the subject of Lady Page Fianola of Blue Harbor again, and Jon was apparently quite content to leave the issue standing between them, the elephant in the room that neither acknowledged.

Jon began to dread the cool tone that Kel spoke with when addressing him, even when he so much as asked how she was doing. "Quite fine, sir," she informed him briskly. "The weather has much improved the Own's abilities in the field."

What set him on edge most how obvious it was; Kel kept that tone reserved for Jon. Minutes after turning away from him, he could see her smile warmly to a new recruit, or ask genuinely after the animals in the care of Daine the Wildmage.

It drove Jon mad.

He managed to find her, to trap her—did she know? He didn't think she did—where she couldn't leave except past him, and then he followed her.

Kel wondered at the slight footsteps behind her in the hall, and turning a corner, she glimpsed the king. Kel bit her lip; she hadto try very hard not to think that Jonathan looked a bit like Jump, following whomever looked like they'd feed him.

"Did you have something else to ask, your majesty?"

It couldn't be called fumbling for words, not exactly, but Jonathan's first sentence is a little jumbled.

"Ah, well, Keladry… I was wondering if you had a potential squire in mind, as you've been studying them all so frequently?"

Jon thought his recovery was perfectly done, and he cemented it with what he knew had been described as a "blinding" smile.

"I have, your majesty, and no, you won't like who, sir," Kel informed him.

Jon sighed. "Must we always be at odds, Kel?" His face, he knew, was perfectly wistful.

"The infamous Conte charm won't work with me, your majesty," Kel informed Jon levelly, watching him realign the words on his tongue.

"Maybe not," he agreed.

Kel wondered as he walked away if he could hear her heart pounding as loudly as she could. Pox rot him.


	6. Perspective

Title: Perspective  
>Rating: PG<br>Word Count: 317  
>Pairing: JonathanKeladry  
>RoundFight: 1/F  
>Summary: Someone else notices these odd interactions between Kel and Jon. ("You're in then you're out, you're up and you're down..." Part of the series: Hot 'n Cold; lyrics by Katy Perry.)<p>

AN: I just want to take this opportunity to thank my readers; as you may have noticed, the majority of my work on ffnet is very, very short, or consisting of very short chapters. This is caused by the fact that these fic were written for Goldenlake's SMACKDOWN challenge last year, and time was of the essence! In the future, I'll be uploading fic that is longer, so thank you for reading all these short drabbles and keep an eye out :) ~Muse

x.

It was all very odd, or at least, it seemed that way to Fianola. Surely by now, after both Lady Alanna and Lady Kel had gotten their shields, a girl-page was no big news. She still had to pass her fourth year exams, too.

Nevertheless, King Jonathan—the king himself!—came to the practice courts almost everyday to watch the pages practice; Fianola could feel his eyes on her as she parried, blocked, and spun during fencing practice. Why he was there, she could only guess at, but every time he was present, so was Lady Knight Kel, and Fianola paid _very_ close attention to when the Lady Knight was present.

Not that she wanted to impress Lady Kel or anything…well, maybe just a little.

There; they were doing it again! Fianola's attention was distracted as another slice came through the air, and she maneuvered so Fianola could see the Lady Knight over her opponent's shoulder.

Kel was leaning on the fence, a casual position, but one that seemed tight, somehow, as she exchanged words with King Jonathan. Fianola wouldn't say they were talking, really—she threw up another block, then moved in with a butterfly sweep—because Lady Kel smiled more when she was actually talking.

King Jonathan—Fianola circled her fellow page—certainly smiled enough for both of them. Didn't his face ever hurt?

She lost track of the two as she broke away from a hilt-to-hilt lock before driving back in, under an arm, to hold her sword point right at her friend's heart. He yielded, grinning, and Fianola casually pushed sweaty hair out of her face and checked on Lady Kel.

The lady knight was clapping, pausing only to exchange a last word with the King before Jonathan stepped back. His gaze swept the courts, and Fianola's breath caught as he seemed to watch her for a long moment.

Whatever was going on?


End file.
